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Mosque barred from operating by city by-law draws protest

Deal on industrial space purchased by group closed after new by-law barring places of worship from employment lands was approved by council.

Hundreds of members from the Sakinah Community Center protested at city hall Wednesday over concerns they cannot operate on the land they purchased because of a city by-law. (JENNIFER PAGLIARO / TORONTO STAR)

When members of the Sakinah Community Center purchased a former 72,000-foot warehouse on Birchmount Rd. in Scarborough, they saw their dream home for a mosque, school and gathering space.

But when they closed on the $4.5 million sale in January 2014, according to land records, city rules already in place made that dream impossible.

Several months earlier, in 2013, council enacted a new by-law governing what can be built on employment lands, where the Scarborough warehouse sits. It bars places of worship and other “sensitive” uses like schools which the city says are incompatible with industrial facilities.

Frustration in the Muslim community peaked on Wednesday with hundreds of members filling the main rotunda and second floor of city hall in protest, calling the by-law “discriminatory.”

“We’re here because we have issue with the by-law that has been adopted by the city,” said Sakinah’s Imam and founder Said Rageah, who earlier wrote Mayor John Tory saying it effectively pushed new places of worship from the city at a time when mosques and Muslims are being targeted at home and in the U.S.

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The site was earlier shut down by the city for operating without the required permits.

Councillor Michael Thompson, whose Ward 37 (Scarborough Centre) includes the Birchmount Rd. space, said he previously met with the group and city officials, who showed them a letter sent to their real estate agent that outlined the community centre would not be a permitted use of the land under the new rules. The city was not able to provide a copy of that letter by deadline.

“We treated everybody appropriately,” Thompson told the Star.

Paul Zuliani, acting director of community planning, in the Scarborough East district, said the city’s rules in no way are discriminatory and were not targeting any particular group.

“This is not about religion. This is not a discrimination issue. This is a city-wide by-law that applies to all sensitive uses — places of worship, schools, some recreational facilities, all types of residential,” he said. “So, they all face the same issue.”

By creating the by-law, Zuliani said the city decided it was not appropriate to have sensitive uses in industrial areas where activities frequently involve noise, dust, heavy machinery and that, as has been the city’s longstanding practice, there was a need to continue to protect those lands for employment use only.

“We know we need these lands for employment uses in the future and we’re protecting for that,” Zuliani said.

“We also know that once a sensitive use gains a foothold in an industrial employment area, then all of a sudden the industrial operators have to be concerned about complaints and if there are complaints about their operations it’s their responsibility to alter their operations.”

The Birchmount Rd. site is across from single-family homes and sits next to an electronics distribution and repairs company, a grocery store supplier and auto shop.

When asked if exceptions to the rules could or should be made in this case or others, Zuliani said that by allowing one non-conforming use it would open the door to others wanting the same.

“It absolutely is a concern because this is a city-wide by-law and a city-wide issue and to suggest that it’s okay here but not everywhere else is not appropriate,” he said.

The Ontario Municipal Board, a quasi-judicial body appointed by the province which can ultimately overrule city planning decisions, has previously used examples where the city made exceptions to justify, for example, a condo tower where its not permitted under city rules — sometimes destroying the city’s long-term vision for an area.

“When one person gets that ability to locate in an employment area, then the others will say ‘Why not me?’”

The by-law itself is currently subject to multiple appeals at the OMB.

Zuliani said anyone who was already operating in an employment area before the rules were changed would still be allowed to operate — what the city considers “legal non-conforming uses.”

Rageah, whose group is trying to join the OMB appeal, said by protecting the employment lands the city is “pushing them to buy land in an area that we cannot afford.”

The group filled a committee room to capacity on Wednesday with more waiting outside after Councillor Michael Ford, whose Ward 2 Etobicoke North is on the other side of the city, inexplicably chaired an impromptu meeting with the group.

His executive assistant Dan Jacobs told the Star the group had expected to attend an ongoing council meeting on Wednesday, where they would not have been permitted to address members, but the meeting concluded its business on Tuesday. Jacobs said the councillor felt they should be heard.

A letter from Tory’s office in response to the earlier letter from the group said city staff had agreed to work with the group to identify a new location for them to operate or to discuss a use of the space that would be permitted.

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